With just a week to go until William Freidkin’s newly remastered Sorcerer hits shelves, the perfect primer has landed today. On April 5th at the CPH PIX Festival in Denmark, the director stopped by for an extensive discussion on his life, career, and all things in between. It was no ordinary masterclass, however, as his friend and fellow director Nicolas Winding Refn moderated the talk.
Friedkin opens up about having no regrets in filmmaking, but in a few in his personal life, the shifting landscape of becoming a director, his humble beginnings in a mail room, and much more. To perhaps some surprise, he doesn’t see much difference between celluloid and digital photography, and also discusses the massive differences between distribution now and when some of his classics came out, particularly The Exorcist. With a hat tip to Cinephilia & Beyond, let the education begin with the complete two-hour talk below.
What do you think of the discussion? What’s your favorite film from Friedkin?